Drug Addiction: Treatment Vs. Punishment

Cons of "Hard" Drugs:

There are many cons to hard drug abuse, including brain damage, risk of disease, risk of heavy addiction, and loss of judgement. With just one hit of heroin, cocaine, or any other highly-addictive chemical, you put yourself at risk for a lifetime of addiction and abuse. Not only that, there are major legal penalties, as a first offense can cost in the thousand dollar range and you risk jail time. Hard drug abuse also causes major health issues: heroin puts you at the risk of HIV and other diseases transmitted through the blood (More Facts on Heroin), cocaine can kill your body's ability to absorb dopamine, which causes one to go into deep depression. Methamphetamine also has a similiar effect and does serious damage to the brain's way of functioning. Many drug addicts wind up in treatment and rehab - most have unsuccessful recoveries and end up using again. So, there are many cons to hard drug abuse and most are just not worth it.

Effectiveness of Criminal Drug Punishment:

"The War on Drugs" began (technically) in 1880 when the United States and China agreed
to prohibit the shipment of opium between them. Ever since, the United States has passed
many laws to provide heavy punishment to anyone caught with illegal substances such as
marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and other hard drugs. Although these strict penalties were
meant to target drug king pins, traffickers, and dealers, it has been reported by the
U.S. sentencing commission that only five percent of all crack cocaine offenders are
high-level drug dealers.

Of course, the most obvious complaint against the efficacy of the war on drugs is that
fact that drug use has not decreased as a result. Between the years of 1972 and 1988,
cocaine usage increased fivefold. Although the number of drug related arrests has
increased between 1960 and 1990, the number of people doing drugs has not been
significantly affected. As a result, American prisons have now become overcrowded with
drug offenders. For more information, see:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/enforce.htm

Treatment Process:

The treatment process for drug addiction is extremely complex and varies from person to person. For example the process used to treat a cocaine addict is different from that of a heroin addict.  An example of this is the use of methadone on persons who use heroine. Methadone is an opiate like heroin and is addicting as well, many patients kick the heroin habit purely by the use of another drug.  Another method commonly used for all forms of drug addiction is residential treatment. Residential treatment places person with addictions into communities of people also facing addiction. This facilities can either be long term (over 6 months) or short term (under six months) and usually include other methods of treatment during that time including individual and group therapy, the 12 step philosophy and extensive outpatient follow up.  Most facilities use the Minnesota Model which grew out of the twelve steps and began at Hazelden.

Effectiveness of Drug Treatment:

When one is addicted to a drug, most times it’s a physical as well as a psychological addiction.  The effectiveness a drug treatments depends on whether or not the treatment can break both addictions.  There are many treatments for the physical addiction, such as agonist treatments, where small doses of the drug are administered over a period of time to both break the addiction and prevent the symptoms of withdraw.   There is also the antagonist method where the addict takes a certain non-harmful drug that numbs the body against the effects of the drugs the he/she is addicted to, causing the addict to break addiction.  More treatment methods can be found here. The psychological addiction, depending on the person, proves to be a much harder addiction to break.  The methods for breaking a psychological addiction include counseling, cognitive therapy, and psychotherapy.  Rehabilitating an addict is most successfully done through admittance to a rehabilitation centre, where the addict can be in an environment void of drugs, and receive the correct medical care from professionals such as doctors and psychologists to successfully break the addiction.